Tata Motors Buys 26% Stake In Logistics Startup TruckEasy

One of India’s leading commercial vehicle maker, Tata Motors Ltd, has acquired a 26% stake in logistics startup TruckEasy, through Tata Motors Finance Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Motors.

A tech-based freight aggregator owned by Loginomics Technologies Solutions Pvt. Ltd, TruckEasy was founded by Nikhil Thomas, Vikram Kodgi and Avinash Achar in May 2015.

Interestingly, Thomas and Kodgi have previously worked at Tata Motors in the logistics domain, apart from other areas within the company and other multinational firms.

TruckEasy is currently operational only in Bengaluru and claims to have serviced over 8,000 customers by more than 3,000 driver partners.

With this acquisition, “Tata Motors aims to gain a foothold in mobility services to be “future ready”, said a company spokesperson.

“The strategic investment would provide Tata Motors with an insight into the “rapidly-growing, technology-driven transformation” in the freight logistics domain and obtain “an understanding of the market dynamics in intra-city freight movement”, the company said.

Tata Motors is further looking to leverage the data analytics provided by TruckEasy on small commercial vehicles. This will further help the company in better customisation as well as bring better solutions to the market.

TruckEasy, on the other hand, will now have access to Tata Motors’ “wide network to grow the supply side” and “expand to multiple locations countrywide”, said Girish Wagh, president of the commercial vehicles unit, in a media statement.

Other notable players in this space are Rivigo, DHL’s SmarTrucking, BlackBuck, Locus, Locanix, 4Tigo Network among others. Here, Rivigo is one major competitor in the industry.

Rivigo has till date, raised close to $125 Mn funding in equity and debt finance. Rivigo reportedly has a fleet of 2,100 trucks and a pan-India network across 150 cities.

Additionally, SoftBank is looking to infuse $200 Mn in the Gurugram-based logistics startup which is likely to take Rivigo’s valuation to about $1 Bn, crowning it a Unicorn.

According to IBEF’s January 2018 report, The country’s logistics industry which is worth around $160 Bn is likely to touch $215 Bn in the next two years with the implementation of GST.

Also, according to Novonous market research, road freight is the largest transportation segment in India, constituting around 63% of the total freight movement. Further, inter-city logistics accounts for a massive 95% of road freight movement and, by 2020, freight transport market in India is expected to be worth $307.70 Bn.